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Indian Television & Film Industry…My Experiences…Part Nine

India.. till date is portrayed…to a large extent… in the Western World… as …the land of wisdom..and we Indians have always been wise…through out history…and we have always given “lineage” a very important position in our societies….even when the name India was not coined…

…In ancient Vedic society, a person’s varna (caste) was assigned based on aptitude (guna), conduct (karma), and nature (swabhava) in the following manner:

Brahmin- “scholarly community,” including teachers, doctors, and other scholars.

Kshatriya- “warriors and rulers or politicians community”

Vaishya – “mercantile and artisan community”

Shudra – “service-providing community”

Harijan – “untouchables, those without varna”

But over the years… we…wiser and more broad minded descendants.. made the caste system hereditary…based on “lineage”…and are still continuing the same saga…. “Bollywood” is no exception….

In Bollywood there are several unwritten norms….like…you should address people who are senior to you in age as “ji”….you should reach the sets/ location at 6.45 am if the scheduled shift is at 7 am(especially if you are in the technical team…artistes are spared)…but the most visible norm is possibly that of ….”lineage”….

Lineage like…if you are the son of a Cameraman you are expected to be a Cameraman…if you are the daughter of a hair dresser ….you are expected to be a hair dresser..if any of your parents was an yesteryear producer…chances are you will get into production…if your dad made it as a Director…you should follow his footsteps…and the most important and visible of all…if your mom/dad/grandpa/grandmom/uncle/aunt had been a Celebrity Actor…you are destined to be a Celebrity Actor…sooner or later…exceptions are there…but they are as rare as a Virar-Churchgate Local Train of Mumbai running vaccant at 8.30am in a weekday… 🙂

In case of Celebrity Actors…examples are not necessary at all…since almost every Indian(at least every reader of this blog)… knows the famous lineages…much before even their first movies are released….I am not for or against the system… but just wonder what would have been the case…if suddenly our Vedic ancestors would have descended in present Bollywood…and decided to implement their original idea of…assigning work/job/position based on aptitude (guna), conduct (karma), and nature (swabhava)…..